Red Dead Redemption 2 is the biggest game of the year. Rockstar’s last release, Grand Theft Auto V, has made more money than any other entertainment property in history. With all that cash, Rockstar has the cache to do things their own way.
And they certainly did with Red Dead Redemption 2, specifically with the game’s cores and rings system. While most games use bars to illustrate health and stamina, Rockstar has gone in a different direction. In this article, we’ll take a quick look at how to track your health, stamina and dead eye using RDR2’s cores and rings.
How Do Cores and Rings Work in Red Dead Redemption 2?
First of all, you’ll find the rings and cores in the bottom-left corner of the screen, displayed above the mini-map.
From left to right, these represent Arthur’s health, stamina and dead eye. The picture in the middle of each—the heart, the lightning bolt and the eye—represent Arthur’s overall health, stamina and dead eye. If the heart symbol is full and white (as it is here), Arthur’s health will regenerate quickly. If the heart is empty and red, it won’t regenerate at all.
The circle that stretches around the icon represents how much health, stamina or dead eye Arthur currently has access to. If the health ring empties out, Arthur will die. Likewise, if the stamina ring hits zero, Arthur will move sluggishly. When dead eye bottoms out, Arthur won’t be able to slow down time to mark enemies while shooting.
On Horseback
When Arthur is riding on horseback, two additional rings appear. These represent the horse’s stamina and health.
These rings work just like Arthur’s. In the picture above, the cores representing the horse’s stamina and health are both low. This means that the horse will regain health and stamina slowly, despite the fact that the rings are mostly full.
How to Refill Cores and Rings in Red Dead Redemption 2
Rings refill overtime, and you don’t need to do anything to make this happen. But, you can. To refill rings manually, drink the tonic related to each gauge. Smoking cigarettes or chewing tobacco can also be used to refill rings. Cores, however, always require action from the player. Arthur’s health and stamina cores can be refilled by eating.
Rockstar’s new system isn’t too difficult to understand once you grasp the basics. But, it’s definitely a strange and unique way to represent familiar ideas. Time will tell if Red Dead Redemption 2 is a trendsetter in this regard, or if the easy way is, in fact, the better way.